Banning kindergarteners dropped off miles from home

A 4-year-old and 5-year-old were found wandering the streets miles away from home after the school bus driver dropped them off at the wrong stop.

Brenton, 4, and Michael, 5, were supposed to be on the bus. Their mom, Tara Brown, was waiting for them when the bus got to the bus stop in Cabazon.

"I asked (the bus driver) if she had Brenton Daniels or Michael Herbert ready off the bus, and she said she did not have them on the bus," Brown said.

Brown began to panic.

"I was freaking out, and the kids on the bus were freaking out, saying, 'Did we lose kids,'" she said.

Not knowing what else to do, she drove back to the school in Banning, about five miles away, to see if they were there. About half an hour later, she got a call from police, who said her children were at the police station.

Someone saw the two kids wandering around the neighborhood and called 911.

"They were found two blocks away from the school," Brown said. "And even the officer told me, 'That is not a good area for them to be wandering around."

She says the boys were tagged with stickers that indicated exactly which stop they were supposed to get off, so she doesn't know how this happened.

"Pure negligence because she should have known, they were right behind her, they were new kinders, they were new on the bus, she should have been keeping her eye on them, especially because it was their first time on the bus," Brown said.

Superintendant Robert Guillen won't say whether the driver will be disciplined, but for the time being, she's no longer driving a bus. He says it's also a time to re-enforce procedures.

"We just got to make sure that bus drivers double check and triple check," he said.

Brown says there's another elementary school less than a block from their house, but they weren't allowed to enroll because that school was full. On Tuesday, the superintendent confirmed that a couple more spots opened up, so Brown's sons will no longer have to take the bus.